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Roy Keane is facing a major backlash for comments made during a live event in Dublin last night - in which he strongly criticised former Ireland teammates and players, the FAI, Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Mayfield man lived up to his reputation for refusing to say the easy thing - or depending on your opinion of Keano - recklessly attacking the players and managers he once shared a dressing room with.

In an extraordinary interview at the Cadbury's Off The Ball Roadshow in Dublin's Bord Gáis Theatre, the Manchester United legend reignited his feud with Sir Alex Ferguson, lambasted Republic of Ireland players Harry Arter, Jonathan Walters and Stephen Ward and implied himself and Martin O'Neill were shown the door because businessman Denis O'Brien had stopped paying their wages.

But Keano has faced a major backlash from pundits and fans on social media - especially for his comments about Jon Walters.

Referencing the Ireland striker's hugely emotional appearance on the Late Late Show in May, when Walters talked about tragedies in his family life, Roy Keane said; "He talks a good game. Imagine if he'd won a trophy. He goes on the TV about how he was harshly treated by me. He's crying on the TV about his family situation."

On Arter and Ward he said; "Harry Arter went to Cardiff on loan, they got relegated. Wardy can't get in the Stoke team at the moment and they're down at the bottom of the league."

On the end of the Ireland job with Martin O'Neill, Keane said he felt O’Neill was “harshly treated” but they both knew the knives were out.

“You smell stuff. You sense something is coming,” said the Cork man.

"But all this idea of losing your job and the sack, that doesn't frighten me. That's part of the industry you're in. There's no doubt in my mind, Martin has been harshly treated. There's a lot of negativity and spin.

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“With the Irish job, I loved every minute of it. “People still say to me, ‘sorry it didn't work out with Ireland’. I say 'it did', we had two proper campaigns. We qualified and got to a play-off. If every Irish manager did that, Irish football would be in a decent place."

Keane's comments on Jonathan Walters have provoked the most ire from Irish fans on social media - but it was his eagerness to reignite his long-running feud with Sir Alex Ferguson that has made headlines in the UK and across the world of soccer.

The bad-feeling between two of the greatest names in Manchester United history has now lasted nearly 15 years, going back to the Cork man's dramatic departure from Old Trafford.

An already deteriorating relationship came to a head in 2005 when Keane conducted an interview with MUTV, openly criticising a number of players in the squad.

"People talk about Ferguson’s man-management. Nonsense. People said he always had the best interests of Manchester United at heart. Darren Ferguson [Sir Alex's son] won a medal. He was very lucky."

Ferguson criticised Keane over the incident in his 2013 autobiography, saying of the infamous screening of the MUTV viedo; "The meeting in the room was horrendous. I just could not lose my control in that situation. If I had let it pass I think the players would have viewed me differently."

Throughout my career I have been strong enough to deal with issues like that. Roy absolutely overstepped the line. There was nothing else we could do."

It seems there will be no end to the feud while either man is alive - or no end to the controversy-causing abilities of Cork's most famous - and infamous - sporting son.